Tawton House, with associated outbuilding, possibly a former detached kitchen

Tawton House is a house with an associated outbuilding, possibly a former detached kitchen. The main building was constructed in 1474 as a cross-passage house with an open hall, and has been altered and extended in the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.

The late 15th-century range and 17th-century additions are built primarily of local rubble stone and cob. Later additions are of rubble stone and brick. The entire building has been rendered and painted white, with pitched roofs covered in slate tiles.

The plan is an evolved linear, single-depth arrangement. It comprises the remains of a one-and-a-half storey cross-passage house with an open hall to the south. The building was extended to the west in the 17th century and altered to include a first floor. Further extensions were added to the south and east in the 18th century, and to the north in the late 18th or early 19th century.

The principal elevation faces west. The north range, dating from the late 18th or early 19th century, is the dominant feature and consists of two storeys arranged in a symmetrical, three-bay façade. An enclosed veranda features a central Tudor arch on colonnettes with decorative spandrels, leading to a recessed porch with a geometric tiled floor. The panelled and glazed entrance door has a decorative surround with castellated detail to the lintel. The central bay of the first floor contains a six-over-six hornless sash window flanked by canted bay windows with horned, plate glass sash windows beneath a gabled roof.

To the right is a set-forward gabled bay that appears to have been built as a 17th-century two-storey porch, featuring a three-light timber mullion window with plate glass sash windows to the first floor. A 20th-century conservatory is positioned in front of the ground floor.

The setback south range is of one-and-a-half storeys. To the left is a lateral stack with a single-storey 19th-century addition in front. To the right is a full-height hall window with 19th-century multi-pane casements. The bay further right is an 18th-century addition with a large window to the ground floor and a three-light casement window to the first floor. A brick stack is visible on the south elevation with deeply overhanging eaves beyond. An inserted sash window is located to the right.

To the rear is an 18th-century dairy under a catslide roof. It has a two-light casement window with mesh panels and a timber plank awning on chamfered brackets. The six-panel door is sheltered by a simple gabled porch canopy on curved brackets with finials. To the right, behind the former cross passage, is a 19th-century single-storey lean-to with two- and three-light casement windows. A three-light window extends to the first floor. The two-storey bay to the right projects forward with a six-light window to the first floor of the south elevation, small inserted windows to the ground and first floor of the east elevation, and an eight-over-eight sash window to the first floor of the north elevation with a small horned sash window below. Between this projection and the rear elevation of the north range is a flat-roofed, two-storey addition with a pointed-arch opening to the lean-to porch to the north. The first floor has applied timber framing with a casement window above the porch and sash windows to the ground and first floor of the east elevation. A lateral stack with a tall tapered shaft rises to the rear of the north range, with a sash window to the first floor.

The north elevation is blank, with applied close studding to the first floor. A late 19th-century flat-roofed single-storey addition with a parapet to the east and west walls contains windows on three sides.

The interior is accessed through the panelled and glazed 19th-century door from the veranda, which leads to a central entrance hall with a re-ordered early 19th-century staircase. A wide basket archway is scored into the north wall but is now blocked by an inserted late 19th-century doorway.

The south range has narrower proportions. The historic core is defined by battered rubble stone and cob walls to the south, east, and north. The 17th-century west wall contains an altered hall window and a lateral stack adapted to incorporate a smaller 19th-century opening with mantleshelf. A later 17th-century cross axial spine beam crosses the range. The east wall retains a 17th-century plank door in a pegged frame, thought to have led to an external stair turret.

The wall at the south end of the open hall house extends to the roof apex and is smoke blackened. The west section of this wall was added in the 17th century to accommodate the altered roof pitch and shows no smoke blackening. The smoke-blackened late 15th-century roof structure comprises principal rafters (of possible raised cruck construction) with an E-type apex, meaning the blades are jointed together diagonally, two rows of butt purlins, pegged common rafters (primarily to the east side), morticed, tenoned and pegged cranked collars indicating open trusses, and the ridge piece. Some 18th-century roof trusses relate to the hipped roof over the north range. The pitch roof structure above is early 20th-century.

Throughout the building are plank and panelled doors with associated door furniture, ranging in date from the 17th century to the early 20th century. Much of the dado-height panelling is early 20th-century, with some added in the early 21st century.

The one-and-a-half storey outbuilding to the east is a possible former detached kitchen. It is square on plan with battered rubble stone and cob walls. It was converted to a stable around 1800. The cobble stone floor, stall partitions, and the steeply-pitched hipped roof structure date from this conversion phase.